Yasir Shah spins Pakistan to series-clinching win

ABU DHABI: Leg-spinner Yasir Shah took six wickets in Pakistan’s crushing 133-run second Test win over West Indies in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday to take an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

The wily spinner finished with 6-124 — his second ten-wicket haul in Test cricket — as West Indies were bowled out for 322 before tea on a weary fifth and final day pitch at Sheikh Zayed Stadium.

Shah had deprived West Indian batsman Jermaine Blackwood from scoring his second Test hundred when he bowled him for 95 in the pre-lunch session.

West Indies, set a mammoth 456-run target for an unlikely victory, still fought hard and batted for 108 overs with Shai Hope also scoring a fighting 41.

Hope and Devendra Bishoo fought for 45 runs during their eighth wicket stand before left-arm spinner Zulfiqar Babar (2-51) had Hope and Bishoo (26) caught to finish the match.

In between Babar’s wickets, Shah had Miguel Cummins bowled for nought to finish the match with figures of 10-210, having taken 4-86 in the first innings.

Pakistan won the first Test by 56 runs in Dubai, leaving the third and final Test in Sharjah starting from Sunday inconsequential.

Blackwood defied Pakistan’s spin-cum-pace attack in the first session by adding 63 for the fifth wicket with Roston Chase (20) and another 57 with Hope for the sixth to counter a weary fifth day pitch.

When it seemed Blackwood would complete his second Test hundred, Shah produced a beautiful delivery which kept straight and hit the batsman’s pad, dislodging the stumps.

Blackwood hit 11 boundaries during his enterprising 127-ball stay.

Shah then trapped Jason Holder leg before for 16 to complete his five-wicket haul, the second in the series.

Resuming at 171-4 West Indian pair Blackwood and Chase batted without any problems for the first nine overs but in the tenth of the day Shah produced a sharp turning ball which took the edge off Chase’s bat to wicket-keeper Sarfraz Ahmed for an easy catch.

Pakistan took the second new ball with the score on 223-5 but Blackwood hit two boundaries in Sohail Khan’s first over.